August 25 | Jewish Portal of Teacher Education

Aug. 25, 2016

Dear subscriber,

MOFET JTEC Portal Newsletter

We are delighted to send you the latest issue of The MOFET JTEC Portal resource listing.

The current bulletin contains information items dealing with early childhood education, teaching Hebrew, teacher education and developing Jewish identity of Israelis living abroad as well as reports on conferences and research findings gleaned from journals, blogs and social media sources.

MOFET International invites educators to join our webinar on "Public Space as a Mobile Learning Environment" on Monday, September 5, 2016 with Ms. Talila Yehiel, a creative expert on location based learning.

As the fall semester of The MOFET Institute's Online Academy approaches, we invite educators to meet online with the heads of our various programs (Jewish studies, Hebrew, English and Arabic languages, educational enrichment in Spanish) during the Online Academy Open Days. Learn first-hand about our programs and courses for teachers, teacher educators, researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders. Check out the entire Open Days schedule here.

As the summer days draw to a close, we wish you all great preparing for the New Year,

Reuven Werber

The MOFET JTEC Portal Team

August 25, 2016

Jewish Portal of Teacher Education

Please note: a complete list of recent additions to the portal follows the Featured Items.

August 2016

Featured Items

Innovation and Inspiration: An Israeli Educational Leadership Seminar for Kindergarten Teachers

In June 2016, a seminar for kindergarten teachers from the Jewish kindergarten system in Pittsburgh was held at The MOFET Institute in collaboration with Classrooms without Borders. During the seminar, the participants experienced a variety of learning settings: visiting and observing Israeli kindergartens as well as other educational institutions serving kindergartens (A House in Nature, Bible House, museums, Ne'ot Kedumim); lectures and workshops on topics such as early childhood education in Israel, early childhood education throughout Jewish history in the Diaspora, Jewish identity in early childhood and the History of the State of Israel and its people. All of the above were accompanied by study-tours around the Land of Israel.

Digitized Babylonian Talmud Textual Variants and Mobile App Launched

An online, digitized repository of the entire Babylonian Talmud called Hachi Garsinan has recently been launched in what its developers have described as a revolution for Talmud study. Uniquely, the project includes all known textual variants of the Babylonian Talmud and allows researchers, scholars and students to easily compare the different texts side by side, as well as highlighting the differences between each version. The name, Hachi Garsinan, is an Aramaic term used by the medieval Talmudic scholar Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki, known as Rashi, to indicate that there existed an alternative version of the Talmudic text which made more sense contextually than the standard wording.

Where Have All the Miracles Gone? How Teachers Broach Biblical Miracles in Israeli Jewish National Schools

The current study examines how Israeli teachers’ beliefs and ideologies are expressed in their teaching of Biblical miracles. The article explores how Israeli teachers broach the topic of Biblical miracles, and how their beliefs and ideologies help them navigate a path from the national curriculum to the classroom. The article focuses on three key areas: Initially, I discuss the educational challenges that teachers in Israeli schools confront in teaching miracles. This is followed by a mapping of educational approaches to presenting miracles. The final section analyzes conversations with three teachers about how they present miracles in their classrooms.

‘These Are Not the Realities I Imagined’: An Inquiry into the Lost Hopes and Aspirations of Beginning Teachers

The Program for Excellence in Teaching (PET) conducted in Israel aspires towards training excellent teachers but also towards creating agents of change within the educational system. This qualitative study, focusing on 21 students and beginning teachers who participated in the PET at a certain college of education in Israel, examines their professional expectations and the disparity between intentions and implementations that happens as the beginning teachers encounter the reality in schools. The article suggests three factors that address this disparity: the participants’ positive conception of the educational system, the isolation of the beginning teachers, and the induction process they must undergo. This article proposes various innovative recommendations for coping with this situation.

Project Based Learning: Reflections from the Summer Sandbox Conference

This week, I had the privilege of attending the 4th Annual Summer Sandbox, a 2.5 day conference focused on project-based learning (PBL) and education in the 21st century hosted at Yeshivat Noam in Paramus, NJ. As an educator well aware of the use, jargon, and general interest in PBL within the progressive educational community but without much insight into its underlying principles and methods, I've been meaning to attend this conference for a few years now.

Yeshiva Day Schools: Give Parents a Choice

This piece, the follow up to my recent discussion of the financial and non-financial costs of yeshiva day schools, proposes what I respectfully submit is a relatively simple and intuitive solution to this fundamental flaw in the yeshiva day school model. Put in place, it would radically alleviate yeshiva day school costs without compromising our children’s Jewish education, and potentially make that education more effective and lasting.

August 2016

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